After months dominated by Brexit, elections and no-deal planning, local government attention has swung on to money, finalising budgets for next year and the Spending Review. In a couple of weeks we may hear our first Budget from this Government and while it is unlikely to include too many specifics on council finance, it is expected to confirm a range of spending promises highlighted during the election campaign and have an emphasis on infrastructure investment.

This desire to invest in the future is set against a backdrop of each Government department being told to identify 5% cuts, and a Treasury focused on the centralised business case driven public management methodology to shape their approach.